Morning journal and courier., 1887-08-04


 = MT. Curtis now touched upon sore spo
 viz: The trouble is not that appointmen
 have been unfit so much as that remova were not required by reform. It must , 1 remembered that the substitution of 1 1 Democrat for fit Republican merely for tt reason that he is a Democrat is th
 1 very evil that reform would correc
 ] Yet under this administration much ha
 been gained for reform. There have bee { many excellent independent appointment
 and frequent courageous disregard of merel
 partisan demands; and many satisfactor
 officers have been thus far retained.
 What might be possible to a Presiden l who, profoundly conscious of the Vits
 necessity of reform, believed it also to b
 his duty, like Sir Robert Peel in repea1in
 the corn laws, to risk the rupture of hi
 party, the imputation of bad faith, and t
 trust himself to the independent patriotic 1 support of the country, will not now dis l cuss. But will say that do not doubt that hi
 action would be most beneficial to the coun l try, that it would be most cordially support 1 ed by the people, and that he would fnG
 himself much stronger for every other goot { work.
 The speaker added that it was clear to hin ! that civil service reform in any thorough anc satisfactory sense cannot be expected iron | either of the great parties in the country as | at present constituted.
 | The speaker now referred at some length to the Benton-Stone business, and added | that as the President understood the facts I the Stone removal was justi6able, and after taking certain exceptions, said the Presidents circular brought out by this controversy | was, as an order, dead letter.
 During the year there has been no exten- sion of the classified service, and in the de- tails of administration under the law the most important event is the adoption, by the national commission, of system of examina tions for promotion. The examinations under
 this scheme are compulsory, and the selec- tions for promotion are made from the whole eligible list.
 In regard to the extension of the classified
 service, hope that we shall renew our earn
 est recommendation that assistant heads of
 bureaus, chief clerks and heads of divisions shall be included in it.
 Congress had in it's last session done noth- ing to advance reform, but during the year reform bills have been introduced in the legislatures of Indiana, of Rhode Island and of New Hampshire. In the State of New
 York 8 total repeal of the reform bill was supported, with the exception of three votes, by the whole Democratic repre- sentation in the Assembly, and the re- peal was defeated by the Republican majority. The Republican convention in Ohio has just demanded such additional leg islation as will remove appointments from partisan influences. A most excellent de- mand. But why has not the Republican party in Ohio, which has had control, not provided for its Then the Democratic con vention in Ohio said in effect that it likes 8 Democratic president, but did not like that a Democratic president should like reform, and the silence of the party platform on this re- form is most eloquent. The Democratic con- vention of Maryland comments the Presi- dents efforts for civil service reform, but sets terrible corrupt example with it's Hig- gins and plenty of others. Kentucky Demo f5 cfr reform and practically censuring the Presi- dent. In closing, MT. Curtis summed up the year s events in this line further and elo- quently advocated the claims of civil service reform, and expressed the view that the cause was gaining ground through the power 0f public sentiment.
 A business meeting was held and George William Curtis was unanimously reelected president. He accepted the office in few :emarks. The rsport of the treasurer was cad in his absence by MT. Hobart, who with Mr. Howe is acting as secretary, showing bal Ince on hand of $707.1 Messrs. Montgom- ny and Lambert were appointed auditing committee. Reports from the various associ- I Ltions were made which showed that the I ause-was not making much progress within | he lines of either of the two great parties, ! put was nevertheless grower in popular favor. | dr. Bonaparte, of Baltimore, was called ! lpon to tell something about Higgins. 1e thought, however, that Higgins might | ,e left alone until the report of the commit ee on the resolutions was received, as he | would probably form large part of that re- | 'ort. He had heard it suggested that Presi- lent Cleveland desired the reform system of | he country to have an awful example and ! lad selected the federal system of Maryland s that example. If so, he thought the ex- ,eriment had been eminently successful. He ! bought that the number of people of Mary and who understand and are willing to sup ,ort reform principles is increasing. The ! ssociation is ready for any work that may ie before it and will endeavor at all events ! o make the way of the transgressor hard.
 The committee on resolutions reported es blows: The National Civil Service Reform sague, while acknowledging the many excel 9nt appointments made by the present ad- the frequent instances of execu- i've disregard of merely partisan demands, nd conspicuous instances of the retention of officers during their terms, has ! ct learned with profound regret that the hange in the civil service is so great es to 1 orecast it's complete partisan reconstruction | y the close of the administration. The league I oes not believe such change to have been ! sduired by the condition of the service, nor 1stiied by the intelligent public desire or xpectation. Holding that the changes of in- | srior officers should not be made for partisan | easons or merely for the purpose of making | faces for others, it regards the action of the III InlS respect aS G6QQlng 70 ! onfrm the system of abuses which the eagde seeks to reform and as furnishing lischievous precedent for succeeding ad- ,inistrations.
 Notwithstanding this action the unprece- ented prominence which the question has cquired in public attention, the partisan omplaints that all former incumbents were ! ot dismissed at once on the one hand, and n the other the complaints by the friends of eform at the failures to maintain its princi- les as well as the public dissatisfaction with l he unfortunate results which have in many | ases followed such failures, all attest signal rogress in reform and offer the strongest as- urance of the rapid growth of apublic sen Iment which will heartily sustain a resolute nd consistent enforcement of reform princi- les, and cites instances to show it. The Iaryland association is urged to impress on he President the advisability of correcting he abuses at Baltimore.